


The dark will embrace or smother you

by Alecto



Series: tumblr ficlets [19]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Panic Attacks, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23346238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: Dialogue prompt: "Did they hurt you?"Kaiba wakes up in the dark. For better or for worse, he is not alone.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: tumblr ficlets [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/48708
Comments: 2
Kudos: 74





	The dark will embrace or smother you

Kaiba came to with a groan he couldn't hold back and a pounding headache that pulsed through his body. Both his hands and feet were restrained, and he struggled to sit up from the floor—made of cold concrete based on the rough grain that scuffed his cheek. He blinked mechanically once, twice, then trice, waiting for his vision to come into focus.

Nothing. Only darkness as far as the eye could (or couldn't in this case) see. But he didn't feel anything, cloth or otherwise, covering his eyes. A rare bout of panic welled inside him.

Something rustled to his left, prompting Kaiba to scoot away as a precaution.

"Hey, that you, Kaiba? You awake?"

It took him almost a full second to place the voice. Jounouchi. Right, Jounouchi had tried to intervene when the assailants jumped Kaiba in the parking lot. Kaiba was obviously their target, and he'd assumed that they would leave a deadbeat like Jounouchi behind. Or tried to kill him to silence him.

Kaiba shivered. There was no point in hiding his bodily reactions when no one could see them.

The room where they were being held was entirely shrouded in darkness. There were no visible windows. In the distance, a thin sliver of light coming from under presumably a door illuminated nothing of note. 

"C'mon, Kaiba, talk to me," Jounouchi breathed, quiet, tense, and almost frightened. "Did they hurt you?"

Other than the bump and headache emanating from where he'd been knocked out, Kaiba felt more or less in one piece. All his limbs, fingers, and toes were accounted for. 

"I'm fine." 

The words clawed up his parched throat, dried by the dust-laden air, and lacerated his tongue and the inside of his mouth. He felt like he could spit blood as a result.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could finally make out a slightly darker blob in the black come closer. He scolded his racing heart for overreacting. It was just Jounouchi shuffling closer, based on the quiet grunts. 

"So, what do we do now?" Even though Jounouchi had spoken quietly, his close proximity rendered the question like a shout. 

Kaiba flexed his hands and legs, testing the bonds around his wrists and ankles. Hard plastic bit into the skin under his shirt cuffs. Zip ties; closed so tight that they threatened to cut off his circulation. Damn, if he had been conscious when they applied it, then he could have slipped some slack between the bonds to work with now. 

"Nothing, I think. At least until we have more information."

Sweat trickled down his temple. Were he alone, Kaiba could reach for several tricks, but Jounouchi's presence complicated matters. At worst, Jounouchi, similarly restrained, was a liability. Or even worse, he was leverage to be used against Kaiba.

Jounouchi Katsuya should never be leverage against Kaiba Seto. 

Time slowed to a crawl under the blanket of darkness that smothered them. With his senses dulled and no external visual stimulation to engage his mind, Kaiba's thoughts spiraled. He kept replaying the original confrontation, trying to pinpoint his mistakes and where he could have done better. All the things he could have—should have done to avoid the current situation. His many failures grated on his nerves, and he clenched his teeth and hands in frustration.

And the inky blackness continued to press on him like a physical weight. The black and empty landscape brought to mind memories that he'd rather not recall. But even when Yuugi dealt his heavy-handed Penalty Game, Kaiba still had the dull light cast by the shattered pieces of his heart puzzle for company. Even when Pegasus had forcibly separated his soul from his body, and he felt the impossible aching distance between himself and Mokuba, time didn't flow like molasses. 

The only thing that tethered him to this moment was a series of heaving and winded pants.

"Kaiba, you okay?" Jounouchi asked, but the sounds could still be heard under his words.

That noise was Kaiba's breathing, rushed and stuttering and catastrophic. Maybe if he could see anything other than the darkness, his vision would have spun and tunneled under the mounting distress. A numbness flooded his arms and legs, creeping up to grip his lungs with a paralyzing hold.

"Kaiba?" Jounouchi repeated his question more urgently.

Something landed on Kaiba's slumped shoulders, and he immediately tried to buck the weight off. Soft tendrils tickled at his jaw and neck before warmth cradled his hands. Kaiba couldn't stop shivering despite the sweat soaking the back of his shirt.

"Breathe. Breathe with me," Jounouchi pleaded. He took each breath with purpose, as even and as steady as a metronome. 

He latched onto Jounouchi's hands, calloused yet steadfast, like they were a lifeline. He clung to them as a reminder that unlike the Penalty Games that either Yuugi or Pegasus imposed, he was not alone at this moment.


End file.
